Comments on: Gaming News: LOTRO goes F2P, Zynga buys Warstorm Dev, Sony announces Clone Wars Online, DC Online, Buzz about Halflife 3https://spinksville.wordpress.com/2010/06/06/gaming-news-lotro-goes-f2p-zynga-buys-warstorm-dev-sony-announces-clone-wars-online-dc-online-buzz-about-halflife-3/
MMOs and game designFri, 12 Dec 2014 22:24:23 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.com/By: gravityhttps://spinksville.wordpress.com/2010/06/06/gaming-news-lotro-goes-f2p-zynga-buys-warstorm-dev-sony-announces-clone-wars-online-dc-online-buzz-about-halflife-3/#comment-9123
Wed, 23 Jun 2010 14:22:44 +0000http://spinksville.wordpress.com/?p=3868#comment-9123I wonder how many subscription MMOs are left now. I remember Wolfshead commenting that eventually WoW will be the only one.
I too wonder how many future MMOs will be F2P straight away, even big budget ones.
]]>By: Ianhttps://spinksville.wordpress.com/2010/06/06/gaming-news-lotro-goes-f2p-zynga-buys-warstorm-dev-sony-announces-clone-wars-online-dc-online-buzz-about-halflife-3/#comment-8610
Mon, 07 Jun 2010 17:10:04 +0000http://spinksville.wordpress.com/?p=3868#comment-8610The phrase “obnoxiously dark middle chapter” was uttered in my household a few times in reference to Mass Effect 2. I’m happy the next game will be a little lighter, personally.
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Mon, 07 Jun 2010 17:08:43 +0000http://spinksville.wordpress.com/?p=3868#comment-8609Zynga bought Challenge Games/Ponzi, and thus Warstorm? I’m really sorry to hear that. I was actually enjoying the FB version of Warstorm and how it was so different to Mafia Wars, Farmville, etc., and how I didn’t have to be FB Friends with a thousand strangers and spam their Wall multiple times a day.
]]>By: Stabshttps://spinksville.wordpress.com/2010/06/06/gaming-news-lotro-goes-f2p-zynga-buys-warstorm-dev-sony-announces-clone-wars-online-dc-online-buzz-about-halflife-3/#comment-8582
Sun, 06 Jun 2010 16:49:56 +0000http://spinksville.wordpress.com/?p=3868#comment-8582My Dad wrote adverts for many years. He’s now retired but we play a game when we watch adverts together. We try to spot adverts that are aimed at the person approving it not the buying public.

You see quite a lot of these adverts, elegant silver-haired men looking cool and suave. Then you think about the product and go hang on, why the hell are they trying to appeal to that demographic?

The reason of course is that the advert was written to appeal to the middle-aged man approving the advert, not the market they want to sell to.

A classic one is where you actually have the exec himself in the ad. They’re always terrible and off-putting but it’s very easy for a sycophantic ad man to sell it to the client that he’d look great on TV and get the account approved.

Now the reason I mention this is DCUO.

To everyone at DC it’s an amazing brand, synonymous with wonderful stories and characters that they all know inside out. Just mentioning the letters DC makes them go warm and fuzzy and think , yeah, who wouldn’t play that?

To people outside DC it’s a terrible brand. It’s too lacking in distinction. A word like Blizzard is a lot easier to remember than two letters that might mean anything.

Most crucially people don’t associate DC with what really sells – Batman and Superman. I had heard of DC for months and thought meh until Jon Shute mentioned who their characters are. I’m about as nerdy as can be, I own a lot of comics including DC ones and I didn’t know they had Batman and Superman. What’s more I didn’t even think about it – DC MMO? not interested, Batman MMO? oh that sounds cool.

The combination of the branding and the release date is going to kill them. And that’s even if they find a way to make playing in the Batman universe without being Batman fun which is a big ask.